


Burning Bright

by StarRoseColors



Category: Original Work
Genre: Afterlife, Bad end, Blood, Character Death, Dark, Dark Fantasy, Dark Romance, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Fantasy, Fiction, General fiction, Hades - Freeform, Historical, Historical References, Horror, Horror Fiction, Inspired by Hades and Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Manipulation, Paranormal, Persephone - Freeform, Poetry, Slow Burn, Story, Supernatural - Freeform, stories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 08:50:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19903057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarRoseColors/pseuds/StarRoseColors
Summary: Mabel knows what's in the Beast's lantern. Now, to save her brother, she has to spend her afterlife fueling it.





	1. Deal Struck

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by the bad end of Over the Garden Wall.

The blizzard was raging.

It paid no attention to a lone figure, gripping her dark cloak tight and holding up a lantern to light her way. Snow soaked past the white socks and black flats she wore and the wind whipped the pink and red dress she wore. The only protection of her Halloween costume was the white sweater she wore under the dress. She let out a grunt when the wind pushed her back, but she continued.

A loud yell made her look up. The blonde let out a yelp, dodging a black mass. She turned at a groan.

"Audrey?"

The enchanted crow looked up at her voice. "Mabel! There you are- where's Lennox?"

Mabel frowned. "I don't know. You...you should go home. Your family's worried about you."

"No! Not until we can find Lennox."

The two stared at each other. Mabel finally let out a sigh. "Okay." She grabbed the crow and lifted her up. "Did you see any sign of him?" With a wing, a direction was pointed. The girl set off in that direction, struggling against the storm.

It felt like hours, fighting against the fury of snow and winter. Mabel looked up when the wind stopped. The sky had gone dark and the blizzard had stopped. The forest was silent. Snow crunched under her feet as she walked, the sound too loud.

She entered a clearing.

A strangled cry escaped her when she saw the sapling. It was slowly growing around a young boy, dressed in dark pants and vest and a white shirt. Dark bags stood out from his pale skin, frostbite starting to set in. Mabel ran to her brother, Audrey perching on one of the branches. She managed to press her fingers against Lennox's pale throat, a steady beat reassuring her. He was still alive.

"We gotta get him out of there."

She stood. Before she could reach out and grab the branches, a groan caught her by surprise. She turned to see a grey-haired man, dressed in the clothes of a woodcutter, fall to the ground. "Woodcutter...?"

Mabel looked up.

A dark shadow stood over the old man, two glowing eyes staring at her. The landscape had darkened, leaving only a circle of light in the clearing. The creature- no, the _Beast_ , spoke. "Give me my lantern, girl."

"Your lantern?" She snuck a glance at the silver lantern. It looked like any lantern- four large windows providing plenty of light and a door that swung open. There was a spout to provide oil. Little stars had been punched out in the top. It looked normal, it looked... _innocent_.

"No way," Audrey said. "We need this."

"Yeah, I'm keeping this. I have to get Lennox home."

The Beast watched her. "Your brother is too weak to return home. He'll soon become a part of my forest." Was that just her, or was there _relish_ in his voice?

"I won't let that happen!" This was her fault after all. Her and that _stupid_ song's fault...Lennox didn't deserve to pay for her mistakes. He didn't deserve any of this.

There was a moment. "Well then. We better make a deal."

"A...a deal?"

Ignoring the quiet gasp from the Woodcutter, the Beast continued. "I can put his soul in the lantern. As long as you keep the flame lit, he will live on inside." Mabel glanced at her dying brother. He was so pale... "Take on the task as lantern bearer?"

She bit her lip and then sighed. "Okay."

"Good girl. Come here."

Mabel quietly stepped forward, Audrey watching with horror-filled eyes. The branches around Lennox had stopped their growth. She moved to set the lantern down when a thought hit her. "Wait. That's dumb."

"What?!"

"That's dumb." She continued. _Don't believe his lies..._ "I'm not going to wander around the woods for the rest of my life."

He spoke, anger trembling through his voice. "I'm trying to help you!"

"No, you're not!" Strength entered her. "You just have a weird obsession with keeping this lantern lit. It's almost like..." She stopped, realization entering her. She turned to stare, wide-eyed, at the lantern.

The Beast tackled her. Mabel let out a cry as the lantern slipped from her fingers and everything went dark. It was like she was blind. She managed to get to her feet, hands waving in front of her.

"Here!" Audrey cried out desperately from the darkness. "Mabel, we're over here!" The girl headed in the direction she called from, hands finding the sapling. Much to her horror, the growth had started again, this time much faster. The crow-girl had been trying to stop them with her beak. With every moment, Lennox was further trapped. Mabel immediately began to pull and kick- what she should've been able to break off easily had the strength of stone.

She began to search the darkness desperately. The Woodcutter had an ax, she could use it- how far away had he fallen? Mabel couldn't even hear his pained groaning anymore. In the time it would take her to blindly search for the ax, would it be too late for her little brother?

Her head snapped back to the tree. Tears, born of anxiety, sprung to her eyes, blurring her vision of the small boy. _Nonononononono, please, no..._

There was no time to think.

"I'LL DO IT!"

The growth ceased.

Several seconds of silence.

Then anything remaining in Mabel's vision bled away, leaving her in a dark void.

Then the void was filled with a booming voice.

"YOU'LL DO WHAT?"

She shuddered, wiping her tears on her arm. She stared into the abyss with red eyes, trying to look somewhat collected. "Look..." She began. "You and I both know what's really in that lantern. You need the oil-" _Oil made from the dead dying again._ "To fuel it." She took a gulp. "I'll help you. I'll cut the trees. I'll grind out the oil. I'll fuel the lantern. You don't need to lie to me about the lantern or the trees or the song, just...just let me take my brother home."

Another pause.

Then light came flooding back, leaving her dizzy. She looked up.

The Beast, lantern in hand, stood in front of her. Audrey, completely still, and the Woodcutter, still on the ground, stared at her in horror. The latter's eyes were bouncing from her to the demon she was selling her soul to.

"...You may take your brother home, safe and alive." His tone was solemn. A hand reached out, gnarled smoothness tracing over her cheek to cup her chin. "But you will not go back with him. Your life for your brother's."

She took a gulp of air, swallowing thickly. "Deal."

"NO!" The Woodcutter yelled, struggling weakly in the snow. The two ignored him. The Beast slunk back into the shadows, giving a short nod to Lennox before disappearing entirely. Mabel immediately rushed to the boy's side, not noticing a new path with a light at the end.

Much to her relief, the branches that had been full of life were dead and brittle. They crumbled under her touch. The boy let out a loud gasp and fell into her arms. He remained unconscious as she hugged him tightly and cried into his shoulder. Audrey struggled for something to say.

"Mabel..."

"Come with us." She said, hoisting the small but alive boy into her arms.

"I..." She looked down. "I gotta go home too. It's time to tell my family that it's my fault they're all birds." She looked up at a small cough. Mabel held up the golden matchbox with a small smile. The crow flapped upwards in surprise. "What?!"

"The matches. They'll make you human again, right?"

"You had them all along?!"

"I used them to escape Mary and yeah, I was sorta mad at you."

The crow couldn't help her tears anymore. "Oh, you..." She flew up, perching on her shoulder to hug her face. "You wonderful, wonderful girl." Mabel brought up a hand to hug Audrey back, then held out the matches. She took it, flying into the shadows. She only looked back once.

"You fool!" The Woodcutter yelled from the snow. "Don't you realize what you've done?"

She sighed with a slight tremor as she glanced back at him. Mabel was too tired to shed any more tears. "I know what it's saved." She turned away and began her trek on the path, noticing how the light at the end seemed to swallow them up.

She took a deep breath, gripping Lennox...

And swam upwards.

The river in the night shimmered around her as she swam up. Only a meter from shore, her leg snagged on something. She threw Lennox to the surface, watching as he floated upwards. There was a small cough and a pair of hands pulled him out. A smile tugged on her lips.

Lennox was home.

He was safe.

The snag on her leg yanked. She tried to swim upwards, a small sliver of hope whispering she could save herself, but she was only dragged further down. A fire began in Mabel's oxygen-deprived lungs as her vision began to tunnel, but she saw two white lights.

Then darkness.

Then falling.

She had the faint sensation of falling into someone's arms.

Drowning wasn't supposed to be this peaceful.

She let out the breath she'd been holding.

~'~'~

"Goodbye Lennox."

"Bye Mabel."


	2. Awaken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel wakes up.

It was almost disappointing to wake up.

Mabel stirred, eyes slightly cracking open. That had probably been the most refreshing nap she ever had in her life.

_...What's left of it, anyway._

She yawned, examining her surroundings. She was in the hollow space of a tree. Then the smell hit her. It was overpowering, obnoxious, and sickly sour. Like gasoline, copper, and old meat. It reminded her of a corpse. The oily texture of the bark made her feel uneasy.

She had to get out of here.

Mabel attempted to lean on her arm, a hiss coming out at the shot of pain. She glanced at it, realizing that there were spots of blood coming through the white. Rolling up her sweater sleeve, she stared at a large gash that had just recently clotted.

When had that happened?

Rolling her sleeve down, she carefully crawled to a hollow. The blizzard had stopped outside and the snow had started to melt. It was still dark, but she could see a sliver of light. Unaware of how long she had been asleep, she was also unaware of what time it was.

The oil made the tree slick. As she attempted to grip the hollow's edge, there was a crunch. Mabel let out a yelp of disgust, looking at her hand. She had accidentally squished one of those odd snails. She wiped it off on the bark and attempted to climb out.

Attempted.

She tried to sit on the edge to slide out. The oil made her slip and with a yell, she fell into the snow. It was only a few feet, smacking the air out of her. "Ow." It was enough to daze her but didn't do any damage. Mabel managed to her feet, looking back...

At the tree.

Her eyes widened. She had been sleeping in a Candle tree. It was shorter than the others but no less horrifying. Like the others, it had a despairing face- this one like it had gone through the heartbreak of a lifetime. No wonder it smelled like a corpse. She made a face when she realized she had gone through the "mouth".

"You're awake."

Mabel froze at the voice. She was suddenly keenly aware of where she was, what she had done, and who was talking to her. A fresh round of tears formed in her eyes.

"Look at me."

She screwed her eyes shut and shook her head. She didn't dare turn around. She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready to start the stupid deal she had just died to keep. It was too much, too soon.

"I said...LOOK AT ME."

Two gnarled hands gripped her shoulders and yanked her around. Mabel jerked her head away, but the Beast gripped her chin and yanked it up. She tried to keep her eyes shut, ignoring the tears spilling down her cheeks. She tried to push the arms away, but he was too strong. A choked sob escaped her.

"If you think this display of cowardice will save you from the fate _you_ arranged, you are very wrong."

She shook her head, finally opening her eyes. "Please..." The glowing eyes of the Beast stared down at her. "I...I-I'm not...ready..."

"Oh?" He backed her up until her back hit the tree. "You seemed ready before. Would you have preferred if I had simply left you to watch your brother become a tree? I had planned on it." His grip on her chin tightened, forcing a grunt out. "The oil from you two would've kept me lit for an entire year." He lowered so they were eye to eye. "Spoiled child- I let you take your brother home. I let you sleep out the storm. I picked out a tree for you. I even have your equipment."

"Equipment...?"

He stood tall again, forcing her head to look to the right. Among the roots of the Candle, the lantern lit the Woodcutter's pack and his ax.

"Did you steal those?"

"They were actually here already."

"But why-"

Realization struck her. Her hands twitched against the wood of the tree.

The tree she had just-

With a cry, she wrestled herself free and fell to the ground. The Beast watched in silent amusement as she threw up, emptying her stomach to the snow. After two minutes of dry heaving, she turned to him. "You had me-"

"Would you have preferred a snowbank?"

Mabel kneeled, not wanting to give the Beast any satisfaction of watching her face crumble. There had been many, many times the Woodcutter had tried to help her and Lennox escape the Beast. Even after they accidentally destroyed his mill, he kept watching over them. He had tried to steer them right, tried to prevent them from wandering into the Beast's hands.

All that effort and he had turned into the thing he had been cutting down for years.

_"You've been grinding up lost souls for years!"_

_"I didn't know! I didn't know what they were!"_

He hadn't even known.

She looked back up and glared. "I'm not cutting down his tree."

"You make it sound like you'll be doing him a favor."

"He wouldn't want this. I'm not going to just feed him to your lantern."

He ran a hand over the bark of the tree, looking almost bored. The hand stopped shy of a few small branches. "Given time, I believe you'll be as eager as I am to use him." With that and an oily snap, he ripped the branches off.

"STOP THAT! What do you mean, as eager?"

He loomed over her like a vulture. "The Woodcutter believed that his beloved wife lived within the lantern, so there was no questioning his loyalty to keeping it lit. You, on the other hand..." His free hand reached out, tracing her cheek. She flinched away. "Too smart for that little trick to work. I needed something else."

"We already made a deal."

He picked up the lantern. "Trust is something earned. I frankly don't trust you to not neglect the lantern without the right persuasion. Yet." His finger tapped on the glass. "It only takes a few drops of blood to bind you."

"Blood?" Memory hit her. Mabel pulled up her sleeve to stare at the gash. Then she glanced back at the Beast. "What did you do?!"

"Calm down," he chuckled. "You know as well as I that I cannot put souls inside the lantern. I can, however, bind you to it, for a little while." He held the lantern closer. "When it runs low, you will feel it. You will hate it. When you feed it, however, it will go away."

Her eyes flicked to the flame. "How long will that last?"

"Long enough."

Mabel sighed, honestly not surprised. Even with a deal, she didn't think she could go through this. But what choice did she have? She stood up straight. "At least let me look for a different Candle."

"Fair enough." He set the torn branches next to the pack and then stood up straight. He regarded the girl, holding the lantern tight. "Come here."

She took a cautious step towards the Beast, staring up at him. He stared back. It was a hard stare, but difficult to read. There was only so much you could get from glowing orbs.

Wordlessly, he held the lantern out.

She paused.

...And took it.


	3. The Dainty Highwayman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel runs into a familiar figure.

Turns out the Beast didn't like daylight.

Mabel wasn't sure if it hurt him or he just preferred the concealment of darkness. It would look more than a little bizarre-(ignoring the entire _weirdness_ of the Woods)- to just see him walking around. Light, especially daylight, didn't work on him. He was just a weird walking silhouette.

The entire aversion to daylight meant that Mabel could get away from him for a little while. She was probably being stalked in the shadows, but it beat being hovered over. She needed the space to think.

She had just died after all.

It still hadn't hit her yet. It was probably due to the shock. The true detail that tugged on her heart was that she was alone. (Except for the Beast, but he didn't count.) Mabel had started the journey with Lennox and then Audrey had joined their group. One way or another, their goal had been to get home.

She was the "Wayfarer". A wayfarer was someone who traveled on a journey. Well, most of her journey's goals were completed- Lennox was home. Audrey was probably home and human again.

Mabel still felt terrible.

The pack and ax were uncomfortable, being not holstered and tied comfortably. The pack contained a few glasses bottles, a metal funnel that she guessed to be a sap spile, and what looked like a stone to sharpen the ax. There was no hand grinder- she had dug around and had come up empty. The Woodcutter had turned the old mill to be able to grind Candlewood, but she and her brother had torn it to pieces fighting off what they believed was the Beast.

And with that thought, Mabel stopped.

She had been attempting to walk through large patches of clear land, just to get some privacy with her thoughts. She wasn't sure where she was- on a large dirt path that ran through a meadow. Wasn't this the route to the Fulton-Kent manor? They had traveled at night, so she really wasn't sure.

She hefted up the lantern to stare at the flame. She hadn't felt anything, like the Beast warned her about, so maybe she didn't have to worry about oil yet. Good. Mabel could work on her problems for the time being-

Her free arm- the injured one- was suddenly pulled up painfully behind her back. A knife landed on her throat.

"Your money or your life."

Great.

Mabel let out a grunt. She had bound up her gash with a piece of ribbon she had unwound from her dress. She hoped that the wound wouldn't reopen. "I-I don't have any money!"

The robber placed his knife closer as a warning. "Put the lantern down and open the pack."

Mabel absolutely did not want to know what would happen to her if the lantern got stolen. "I can't!"

"Wanderer, you are not in a position to call the shots! Put down the lantern!"

"No!"

The gruff voice snarled. "Listen, _dearie_ , when I say-" He whirled her around, knife aimed at her throat. He abruptly stopped, blue eyes blinking in surprise. "Oh. It's you."

Mabel blinked. She recognized the blue Regency era nobleman's coat. "Dainty Highwayman?"

The handsome man nodded, loosening his composure but not putting the knife down. "Yeah. You're...the Wayfarer or the Flower Girl or whatever they call you."

"Yeah...yeah, that's what they call me."

"Didn't recognize you."

She frowned. "You didn't recognize the stupid person wandering around in the snow in a dress?"

"You could've been anyone dearie."

He had a point. Mabel decided not to argue the issue further. "Yeah. Well...it was...interesting to see you again." The knife was still pointed at her. Why was the knife still pointed at her? She attempted to take a step back. "I should really get going..."

"Not so fast. We still have a score to settle."

How casually could someone unhook an ax from a belt?

"Since when?"

He loomed over her. "Since you stole my horse."

... _Crap_.

Looking back at how eager Dale was to steal from Kent's mansion, Mabel could see how he was the Highwayman's horse. "I didn't know he was yours! He talked so I assumed that he was his own person...horse?"

The Dainty Highwayman sighed. Finally, he put away the knife. "Dearie, that horse is as stupid as a brick. He needs guidance, which I provide." He paused, noticing the lantern. "Why are you carrying a lantern around in the middle of the day?"

Mabel paled, glancing at it. She probably should've considered how carrying a lantern around in broad daylight would look. She quickly searched her brain and what came out was "Good luck!"

She froze. The man was staring at her incredulously and she couldn't blame him. Did that just come out of her mouth?

"You carry a lit lantern around in broad daylight...for good luck."

_No, it holds the soul of the physical manifestation of despair. You remember the Beast- yeah, the one everyone at the tavern fears? I traded my life to fuel and protect his lantern so I could save my brother and he's probably watching us in the shadows right now._

"...Yeah. Found it on the road- keeps away the bad stuff." Maybe he would go easy on her if he thought there was something mentally wrong with her. Mabel tried to help him along to that idea by smiling. When he still looked baffled, she decided to change the subject. "You want to know where your horse is? I know where he is!"

"You do?"

"Yeah! He works at the Fulton-Kent tea company!"

Dainty looked incredulous and a little bit sad. "He...has a job now?" His features suddenly changed to blankness. "Never heard of them."

 _Okay_. She wasn't used to his sudden emotion change. But everyone at the tavern she had met him at had been like that. "Well, I can take you to him."

He nodded.

"Lead the way Flower Girl."

The two started walking. Mabel glanced back to the shadows to see a familiar silhouette, staring straight at her.

She gulped.


End file.
